


Squids are to Llamas

by trilliath



Series: The Moon and the Tide [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: I think I did, M/M, Merman!Stiles, Oh wow did I actually write H/C?, Sortof, early relationship cuddles, i don't even, it's the cold meds I know it but the title makes sense right now okay, mer!stiles, tiny side of scisaac
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-02
Updated: 2013-10-02
Packaged: 2017-12-28 06:11:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/988646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trilliath/pseuds/trilliath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merman Stiles isn't having a very good day. At all. But he's swimming to the surface to meet Derek and he's really hoping things are going to be looking up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Squids are to Llamas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smartchicken](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=smartchicken).



> Smartchicken needed some cheering up and suggested the thing we both have a big weakness for : Mer!Stiles... How could I refuse? Any typos are totally the fault of my stupid cold that won't go away.

Stiles is not having a good day. It had started on a bad note, starting with another argument with his dad over how often he'd been going to the surface. He got why it worried his dad, he really did, but he was an adult and had to make his own choices, so he'd left their cave early to try and find Scott. Of course, on his way he'd run into Jackson, who insisted on his ritual obeisance just because he knew how much Stiles hated it. Yeah, he was a real _prince_ all right. He hopes fervently that the queen soon finds another pod whose princess is of marrying age and willing to pick a mate based on a pretty face and take him far, far away. 

He hadn't been able to find Scott all morning so he'd had to go get brunch alone. It was just his luck that the mollusks he'd been looking forward to trying for lunch had turned out to be either too young or already gone so he'd had to settle for a boring nearby yellowfin. And then there was the _incident_. The reason his stupid face had stupid welts and his stupid tail hurt so damn much and to top it all off he'd had to endure the laughter and teasing of Erica for half his trip up from the deep before she'd left him in peace. And it was that much worse because it was Scott's fault. 

When he'd finally found Scott that morning it had been by accident. Still hungry after that paltry little fish, Stiles had gone to the kelp fields for a quick fill-up of nutrients before their big adventure. He hadn't expected to find Scott and Prince Isaac there, playing tag and flirting and mostly teasing around the edges of going in for a kiss, completely oblivious to the world. Stiles had snagged a handful of the nearest tree and swam away (of course he got the worst, bitter kind) to wait at his and Scott's meeting point. 

They had been planning to return to a part of the reef they'd discovered, hard to get to but full of exceptionally large clams and pretty rocks, which meant there was a good chance there were some beautiful pearls to be found. They'd been planning it for weeks, how they'd open one at a time, gather their finds carefully and slowly but without delay lest someone else happen upon it. They'd be a huge hit, those beautiful, unique pearls. They'd make great additions to their dowries or gifts for loved ones. They'd talked about it for _days_

He'd waited a while but gone on alone since it was obviously clear that Scott had forgotten about their plans because… well okay it's not like he could blame him for being excited and distracted by the fact that Prince Isaac had started coming to visit their pod more and more frequently, apparently for the primary purpose of spending time with Scott. At this rate he's probably not even going to need his dowry. Stiles is happy for him, truly. But he's still allowed to be pissed because if Scott hadn't ditched him to go pick stupid kelp, then his tail wouldn't be in tatters and he wouldn't be late.

Because when it came down to it, that was the worst thing of all. That he was late in his swim to the surface for his rendezvous with Derek.

Yes he knows he's a giant hypocrite, thanks.

Whatever. His tail hurts and he's allowed to be cranky.

When he finally breaks the surface the sun is already setting. But Derek's there, waiting, just like he'd said he would be even though Stiles is several hours late by now. Stiles breathes a lungfull of surface air and then sighs it out in slow relief as he eases his urgent pace just a bit and lets his tired tail have a little break. He hadn't realized how worried he'd been that Derek would give up waiting until he'd seen him. Now relief and anticipation is warm in his chest as he swims the rest of the way into the secluded cove.

Their spot.

Derek's face goes quickly from pleased to upset, and before Stiles can do more than blink, Derek's running out into the water in hurried splashes to meet him. Stiles swims right to him, wraps his arms around his neck and tail around his legs and squeezes tight with his whole body. But Derek's hands are hard on his waist, holding him back before Stiles can give him a proper kiss. 

"Stiles, Stiles, what happened? Are you all right?" Derek demands, eyes searching his face fervently.

Oh. Right, the other reason he was late. Derek's fingers brush hesitantly along his cheek, below where the angry line of suction-welts are, and his eyes are wide as he traces the lines down into the water. Then Derek's holding him close and moving them closer to the shore. He loves the feel of Derek's too-warm werewolf skin on his scales. He doesn't so much love the way his torn tail drags at the sand as Derek pulls him up to where his land-creature's eyes can see him. 

He thinks he must be saying this out loud or making a pained sound or something that tells Derek as much because Derek is immediately dropping down his arms to support Stiles's tail and lifting him above the surf. He carries him all the way up to the beach before curling Stiles into his lap, cradling him like he's the most precious, fragile thing… not some nobody who never gets taken seriously. The others in the pod still treat him like a kid most of the time which is stupid because he's nearly six years old. He's been an adult for almost a year.

Not Derek though. Derek always takes him seriously, even when he probably shouldn't. He's so not complaining.

"Stiles…," Derek murmurs, looking worried as he surveys the remains of Stiles's delicate fins. 

"M'fine," Stiles says, smiling up at him. He tries to kiss the fear off of Derek's face. "Looks worse than it is."

"What happened?" Derek asks again, hands still stroking long soothing passes over his tired muscles.

"Giant squid," he says sheepishly, expecting another dose of mocking laughter over having been caught by one. But it doesn't come. Derek just looks dismayed, and Stiles doesn't bother to point out that any self-respecting merman wouldn't be so pathetic as to actually get caught by one of those noisy stinking hulks.

"Those assholes are mean," he says petulantly instead, giving his fins a little flick. Now that he's able to rest, to stop swimming, they'll heal pretty quickly.

Derek is still looking concerned, fingers feathering on his skin but avoiding the welts carefully. "Can I do anything?"

"These don't really hurt," Stiles assures him, far more interested in getting to his long-anticipated make-out session than talking about his embarrassment. 

Derek frowns but he seems to be picking up on Stiles's lack of alarm, so he relaxes, lets Stiles take his mouth for a long, proper hello-kiss.

"That's better," Stiles says when he lifts his head and smiles.

Derek makes a low sound of agreement as he tips his head up for another long kiss. Then he grins, tilts his head over a faint chuckle. "You know up here we have a saying… that you can kiss a hurt and make it better," Derek says, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Oh really?" Stiles says with a slow grin. It sounds ridiculous, but then so do a lot of things surface-dwellers do. "Does it work?"

Derek nods, leaning in to press a kiss to Stiles's cheek, right on the edge of the welt. Then another to his jaw. Stiles tips his head back on a sigh and a string of them come down over the sore curve of his neck.

As Derek's lips make their way down Stiles's neck and chest to places they've never been before Stiles quickly re-evaluates his opinion on the odd saying. "Huh," he says, a little breathless when Derek's lips pass over the welt just above his nipple. "It actually seems to be working."

Derek grins at him, nuzzling his stubble against Stiles's skin and brushing his lips teasingly close to Stiles's taut nipple before resuming his trail of kisses down the welts that circle Stiles's body. He shivers pleasantly at the new touches, silently beginning to consider moving that squid from 'asshole' status to something slightly better if this is the final outcome. So far they've just progressed to kissing - a lot. And as enthusiastic as their kisses have been since that day when Stiles had worked up the nerve to plant one on Derek and change the nature of their friendship, they'd been slower to do more than just skim their hands over each other's bodies in tentative and relatively tame accompanying motions.

So when Derek goes miles past chaste and slides his fingers under the translucent and mostly-healed fins at the end of Stiles's tail and starts to lower his mouth to them, he's stunned. Derek's fingers are delicate as they stroke him, and then his lips are touching Stiles's _fins_ and - Stiles makes an undignified noise and squirms out of his arms, flopping to the sand as he curls his tail away from Derek's lips.

"Um," he manages eloquently, cheeks flushing hot.

"Did I hurt you?" Derek asks, face worried.

"No. No that definitely did not hurt," Stiles says with an awkward laugh. Pretty much the exact opposite.

"Did I do something wrong?" Derek persists.

"Not wrong, just…" Stiles stares down at Derek's… feet. His feet which. Are not fins so. He doesn't actually have a clue what Derek would think if Stiles fondled his… damnit what are they again? Toes! They're toes. 

And it's not that he doesn't totally want Derek's hands and mouth all over his fins. Because he does. He really _really_ does. It's just they haven't gotten to this point yet. Exactly. Like at all. 

"Just, kind-of, uh… _intimate_ ," he explains with a reflexive shiver of fins.

Derek's ears shade oddly pink as his eyes widen and his eyebrows twitch. "Oh."

Yeah they definitely haven't talked about the whole interspecies erogenous zones lineup because _awkward_. But then Stiles realizes that there's disappointment and resignation edging onto Derek's features alongside embarrassment as the werewolf shifts to put a polite distance between them.

No. Uh-uh. He was not fucking this thing up with his stupid flailing.

"Hey, no. Don't get me wrong, I am _so_ not complaining," Stiles ventures, quirking a nervous but excited smile as Derek's eyes snap up to his. He lets his tail relax a little, laying his fins back down within touching distance of Derek. It feels wanton and tentative at the same time. "I was just… surprised."

"Oh. So," Derek says, eyes settling on the translucent fins, glimmering in the fading amber light. Stiles resists the urge to twitch his tail under the scrutiny. 

Derek leans a little closer, lowering a hand towards Stiles's tail, nearing, but not touching. Stiles holds his breath, feeling Derek's warmth through the gap as his hand hovers just centimeters away for a long moment before he shifts, dipping his forefinger into the sand and dragging a long line beside the crest of Stiles's main fin, tracing his outline. "I guess we'll get to that later. Sometime soon, I hope," Derek says, looking at him with more than a little heat.

Oh.

Okay hell yes.

Derek wraps an arm around his waist and drags him closer. He presses hot lips to Stiles's throat and works his way back up to Stiles's mouth, getting things back on track. Stiles winds his arms around Derek's neck and twists himself close, curling his muscular tail back around Derek's body. He presses as close as he can, reveling in their different musculature and textures and temperatures. They've only been doing this for a while but he's pretty sure he's never going to get enough of kissing Derek.

Eventually, when their kisses turn languid and the sun dips below the horizon, Derek sighs, tipping his head down. He rests his forehead down into the crook of Stiles's neck.

"I'm glad you're okay," Derek says softly against his skin.

Stiles kisses his temple and curls his tail tight around Derek's leg. "I'm glad you waited."


End file.
